firebird81 wrote:No, Pony express is usually up and running. You didn't miss much, tho. It's a fun ride, but so short it's not worth waiting over ten minutes for. Ghostrider on the other hand......what hasn't already been said about that beautiful wooden work of art? Time much better spent, in my opinion....oh, and Hangtime rocks!

Ok thanks! I rode it on my first visit to the park. For what it is, Pony Express is a decent coaster. It's just not something I need to ride multiple times a visit when you have other great coasters nearby.

I have no regrets finishing the day with a few GhostRider rides. It was absolutely hauling.

I feel like GhostRider is really in its prime right now (since the refurb). It has been two years since all the work was done, so it has really broken in a lot and is hauling a$$, but it's still very smooth, relatively speaking. I really hope it stays this way for a while and doesn't turn to crap again after 5-8 years. Can't wait to ride in on Friday, I haven't been since March.

I think Ghostrider ought to be just fine for a while. It's running a lot smoother than Shivering Timbers did last month. I believe GCI retracked both around the same time but Ghostrider got Millennium Flyers and a top layer of denser ipe wood that Timbers didn't. It seems to have made a difference.

First time riding GhostRider since the refurb. It definitely went from being one of the worst wooden coasters I’ve been on to one of the best!

Biggest complaint was the retardedly slow-moving queue. I was so convinced they were only running one train because I could not fathom the line moving as slow as it was and still being two train op. Yes, there are two trains running. How in the heck is it so slow? Is it always like this?

Even Hangtime line was shorter and faster.

GhostRider was more like 1 hour but felt like 2!

“If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?”

RAWKIN_coaster38 wrote:How in the heck is it so slow? Is it always like this?

It's basically unrideable without a pass now. It seems to have something to do with the removal of the trim and the 20-30 block brakes the train has to pass through before returning to the station haha! It's the worst, and the line there is utterly miserable.

I rode HangTime for the first time last week. I think it's my new favorite ride in the park. That could just be because I have been to the park a zillion times growing up and this one is big and new, but considering some of the negativity surrounding the ride (not here, mostly on social media), I was pleasantly surprised. The seats/restraints are GREAT (up there with B&M clamshells and Mack launch as my favorite restraints), and the hold is pretty freaky with all the freedom the lap bars give you. The inversions are fun and have some cool moments, but the double down is definitely my favorite element of the ride that isn't the lift/drop. You really fly outta your seat there, especially in the front row.

Also, the capacity really isn't too bad. It's not a "high throughput coaster" by any means, but the line moves pretty consistently, and watching the coaster go all around you keeps it interesting. There's also some nice little touches of theming. Nothing much, but it's effective and nice to see. The park has also pretty much been set on running two trains, which I have no problem with. The crew is never fast enough to make three trains beneficial, and operators get into a nice rhythm with two trains. Overall it works out pretty well in terms of capacity and operations.

GhostRider's line is still BY FAR the worst in the park. I really hope Knott's does something about that. Operations could always be faster, but considering the length of the ride, super speedy operations would be useless if it takes a whole minute for the next train to arrive in the station. At least it's mostly indoors.

RAWKIN_coaster38 wrote:FBiggest complaint was the retardedly slow-moving queue. I was so convinced they were only running one train because I could not fathom the line moving as slow as it was and still being two train op. Yes, there are two trains running. How in the heck is it so slow? Is it always like this?

Even Hangtime line was shorter and faster.

GhostRider's capacity got destroyed with the renovation. The trains lost some seats, and the final brake run adds literally 20 seconds to the end of the ride. I can't believe it's been running for a whole year and they haven't fixed the programming on that section.

Other factors... removing the block brake above the station means that they can't dispatch until the train on the course gets to the helix. The cubbies are also really small, so the are constantly guests getting in each other's way to try and get stuff / put it away. The cubbie situation probably adds a solid 20-30 seconds to the dispatch times.

None of those things are causing the slow dispatches. The returning train literally sits for over two minutes completely stopped while they are still loading the other train, usually. 5 minute dispatches are the norm. for a ride that runs 2 minutes and 30 seconds, that's not an MCBR or end brake run issue. There have been a couple of times where they have actually been ahead of the returning train when I've been there, but that almost never happens. And when they are..the line moves much faster. A full queue will go thru in less than an hour. But it almost never happens. Usually you have people getting off the train fighting for room at the boxes to get heir stuff with the people getting on the train. You have a line of people at the exit getting put on about every second train, which means the gates don't open until they are seated. On busy days, you have a steady stream of fastlane folks coming up and getting right into the queue at the loading station. All of these things are the reason Ghostrider's operations are so slow. It is by far the most popular ride in the park, even with Hangtime.

It was my 23rd park visit of the year today. It was also my 23rd Boardwalk BBQ meal and I can honestly state that I am starting to get sick of the BBQ but Boysenberry cider is just as delicious. The extra half-hour in the morning for pass holders and hotel guests really helps to get a lot of rides in. I rode Xcelerator 3 times and Hangtime 5 times between 9:30 - 10:15 am before the regular guests got to the back of the park. Most of the lines during the regular part of the day are under 20 minutes now except for Ghostrider line that still appears well over one hour. The fire in south Orange Couty hills is visible behind Silver Bullet on the Sky Cabin. With many k-12 schools heading back next week, I hope the park is a little more dead.

Fire in OC hills

Fire in OC hills

Xcelerator line during early entry. I had ride to myself for a couple of laps.

Hangtime line during early entry

Monte has re-opened after valleying at some point.

Boardwalk BBQ meal # 23 for the year. Probably about 100 ciders since January too.

Arguably, SoCal coaster season really kicks off (for coaster dweebs, at least) when the kids go back to school and parks offer non-stop ERT (on weekdays, at least). Since schools started back this week (inexplicably early, it seems), I went to Knotts to take in a few empty stations and a hopefully empty park. However, either tons of kids are playing hooky, or I was a bit early as the park was still filled with shrieking teens glued to cell phones and each others’ necks. IsItPacked suggested the place would be a ghost town, and, once inside the park, the Knotts app seemed to agree with “5-minute waits” for everything. However, the app was clearly not working as Ghost Rider’s line reached the first-floor switch backs, which is usually about an hour given how poorly it’s run these days. I’m kind of spoiled with a season pass in that anything more than a three-train wait is “too long” for me, so that was out, as were a few other rides. Xcelerator and Montezooma were both broken, and a few other rides crapped out in the time I was there (both Jaguar and Silver Bullet).

Still, I got to ride some of my favorites: Supreme Scream, Silver Bullet (before it crapped out), and Sol Spin (not a favorite, but the line for La Revolucion — a true favorite — was too long). I got stapled so hard on Sol Spin that my legs lost circulation and, despite trying to get the ops’ attention before the ride started, they ignored me. I was able to adjust enough to mitigate discomfort, but the op was clearly not paying attention. Others on the same arm had the same problem, and one young woman was audibly distressed. Poor show, ops.

I haven’t ridden Hang Time since it opened because a) I’d rather wait until the park is in full ERT mode and b) I really wasn’t that into it when I first rode it as back-to-back inversions do nothing for me. The line was down to the first switchback right by the entrance, which, when it first opened, meant the wait was somewhere around 45 minutes. This time, however, it only took 20. And, as the line seemed to shrink while I waited, I jumped back in the queue following my first ride to find the wait only 10-15 mins. The ops seem to have got the system down well. As such, I rode four times and did feel it was a bit more intense than when I first rode it. The first drop’s still better than it looks like it should be, the lift hill is genuinely unnerving, and the dip over the entrance offers surprisingly powerful air. The ride still rattles and jolts through that corkscrew thing, but the restraint design keeps it from being a problem. Overall, I appreciated it more this time around, even though it’s still not quite in my top-5 rides at the park.

I also made the mistake of riding Wipeout — a ride that I recall riding as a young kid at carnivals and finding tame / boring. Spinning rides are a mixed bag for me; I’ll give them all a shot, but dizziness isn’t my thing. This one was pretty awful — fast and totally disorienting, with some pops of air that were more intense than I expected. I lost track of what it was doing, but it did seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time spinning too fast while flat. Lesson learned on that one, and I won’t bother with it again any time soon.

So, for any locals waiting for the place to clear out, it’s not quite there yet. In the coming weeks, though, I’m sure there’ll be some great dead weekdays. I’ll probably head back next week or the week after to try again (and hopefully get back on Ghost Rider), as long as the weather doesn’t take another gross triple-digit turn for the worst.

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